Rabbi Baer of Rodoshitz inquired of his teacher, the Seer of Lublin: "Show me the customary way to the service of God?" The tzadik answered, "There is no such thing as telling a person which way to go. God may be served by way of study, or by way of prayer, or by way of fasting, or by way of eating. Every person should pay heed to the way to which his heart is drawn - that he may devote all his strength to follow that chosen way."
A Hasid of the Seer of Lublin once undertook a fast from one Sabbath to the next. On Friday afternoon he was overcome with such a terrible thirst that he thought he would die. He caught sight of a well and went to drink from it. But then he realized that his inability to hold out for just one more hour would undo the effort of the whole past week. He turned from the well and did not drink. Soon, pride stirred in him for his ability to resist the temptation. Becoming aware of the pride, he said to himself: "Better I should drink than have my hart filled with arrogance." He returned to the well, but, as he bent down to dip his cup, he noticed his thirst was gone. When the Sabbath began, he entered his teacher's house. Crossing the threshold, he heard his teacher call out, "Tinkering!"
The teacher's remark to the Hasid undoubtedly means, "This is not the best way to attain a higher rung." He warns his student of "something" that invariably will prevent him from realizing his intent. What this "something" is should be explicit to us: it is the repeated advance and retreat, the to-and-fro, the zigzagging that is the questionable behavior needing admonishment. The antithesis of "tinkering" is "work of a coherent whole." How does one accomplish work of a coherent whole? Only with a coherent, unified soul.
Buber's original description was Arbeit aus einem guss (literally: work of a single pouring). A "single pour" is a clear reference to the craft of the foundry master who pours molten metal into a mold, making a sold casting without joints or seams. Hence, our translations of Arbeit Austons einem guss (work of a single pouring) is "work of a coherent whole."
The skilled craft of the foundry master is in sharp contrast to the improvised work of the itinerant tinker. Buber may have chosen the metaphor of the foundry master because of his familiarity with Friedrich Schiller's epic German poem, Das Lied von der Glocke, (The Song of the Bell), which in 19th century Germany was regarded as an important part of the German cultural heritage. Buber's love for German romantic literature, in particular for Schiller's poetry, is of historical record. The thirteen year old Martin based the theme of his Bar Mitzvah speech not on the weekly Torah portion as has been customary, but on a poem by Fredrich Schiller.
Full poem: https://www.bartleby.com/177/46.html
| Now the casting can begin, | |
| For the dented mould is fair: | |
| But before we pour it in, | |
| Let us say a pious prayer! | 150 |
| Push the tendon hard! | |
| God shall be our guard! | |
| In the bell's ear smoking, glowing, | |
| Waves of fiery brown are flowing. | |
| Most wholesome is the force of fire, | 155 |
| When man can tame and guard its ire, | |
| And from this heavenly force man takes | |
| Good help for what he moulds and makes. | |
| But frightful is this power's abuse | |
| When, from its fetters broken loose, | 160 |
| Upon its own track wantonly | |
| It roams as nature's daughter free. |
והנה ד' בחינות צריך כל איש ישראל להשיג לשלימותו. א') עיקר השלימות לרחק המגונה המזיק לנפש. ב') לקרב המועיל בשקידה וזריזות. ג') להאמין בהשגחת הבורא ית' הן הטוב והן הרע ח"ו, שהכל הוא בהשגחה מכוונת ממנו ית' ובלעדו אין מעשה אשר יעשה להרע או להטיב. ד') להאמין שגם הרעות והצרות אשר יפקוד ה' עליון, הכל הוא לכוונת הטוב, אם מירוק עון, או בדרך נסיון, וע"ד ועבדום וענו אותם ארבע מאות שנה, ונמשך מזה ואח"כ יצאו ברכוש גדול.
אלו הד' המה יסודי דתנו, ואבותינו במצרים הושלמו בד' אלו. ולרמז ע"ז באו אלו הד' מצות אשר עשו בצאתם ממצרים. השבתת שאור, אכילת מצה, פסח, מרור. השבתת שאור על הרחקת המגונה הנמשל לשאור, ע"ד שאור שבעיסה מעכב. אכילת מצה רמז על קריבות המועיל בשקידה וזריזות, ע"ד ושמרתם את המצות א"ת מצות אלא מצוות מצוה הבאה לידך אל תחמיצנה. אכילת פסח לעל אמונת ההשגחה הן לטוב הן לרע אשר האמינו בו כי פסח ה' על בתי בנ"י בנגפו אל מצרים ואת בתינו הציל, אכילת מרור רמז אשר גם המרירות היה בפיהם כדבש למתוק לאשר האמינו הטוב הכרוך בעברו.
There are four steps toward achieving wholeness. First, one must get rid of that which is ugly and damages the individual. Second, one must then enthusiastically embrace all those things which are life-affirming. Third, one comes to recognize divine providence is present in all things, good or bad. Finally, one comes to understand that even suffering and sorrow are visited upon us from God with good and beneficial intentions. Sorrow and suffering can help a person atone for sin or it may serve as a test. This is what scripture means, “Your offspring shall be strangers in a land not theirs and they shall be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years…in the end they shall go free with great wealth.”
Our ancestors acquired these qualities before leaving Egypt and they did so by performing four mitzvot: they got rid of all hametz, they ate matzah, they offered the Pesach offering and they ate maror. Removing hametz from their homes was symbolic of removing that which is ugly and damaging from the life of the individual. Hametz or leaven is referred to as the „leaven in the soul‟ or „the evil inclination.‟ Matzah, on the other hand, is made through a quick baking process. It symbolizes the enthusiasm and quickness with which we embrace that which is life-affirming and serve God. The Pesach offering symbolizes divine providence since God passed over the Israelite houses but struck the Egyptian households. And finally, maror is the bitterness of slavery – we can now see it as part of the divine plan in light of all the other insights we have gained.